Great Things Going On Now
This week I want to take a moment to congratulate the 25 newly inducted members of the Haskin Elementary National Elementary Honor Society. This year there were an impressive number of students who qualified for this honor. Having NEHS in Haskin is a great way of recognizing both academic and civic excellence at school. Membership in the organization gives kids something to strive for and achieving it rewards their hard work. I would also like to point out that ceremonies like the one we had the week before spring break would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of Haskin Elementary School 5th grade teacher Jeri Trujillo who sponsors our local chapter of NEHS. Jeri puts a tremendous amount of effort into NEHS behind the scenes as well as into planning and preparing for our annual induction ceremony. Thank you Jeri for the time and effort you put forth to make this possible for our students. Your efforts in this realm help us live up to our core belief that we are preparing all our students to be successful in life.
I would also like to congratulate Center Virtual Academy director Chris Vance for being honored by the Colorado Legacy Foundation at its annual Legacy Luncheon Awards Ceremony on April 4th. Chris was honored in the special category called “Innovation Requires Innovative Thinking” because of the work he did creating a statewide administrator and teacher evaluation tool that effectively gathers data and makes work easier for users. While attending a Colorado Department of Education SB 191 workshop earlier this year Chris identified the problem CDE had with its evaluation instrument, then spent some of his personal time creating a solution to that problem. This effort by Mr. Vance probably saved the Colorado Department of Education upwards of $500,000 that it will no longer have to spend to purchase such a data gathering instrument. Through his actions Chris helped all districts in Colorado and is certainly living up to our core belief that everyone must be committed to the pursuit of excellence.
As it turns out, Center Schools contracted counselor Katrina Ruggles and Center Schools secretary Marsha Felmlee also received special awards at this year’s Legacy Luncheon. Katrina and Marsha entered Center High School and Skoglund Middle School in the Colorado Legacy Foundation Healthy School Champions competition this year. Many of you already know how hard Katrina and Marsha have worked to secure and implement healthy schools grants to support our students in Center. As it turns out BOTH Center High School and Skoglund Middle School were honored with the Legacy Foundation top award in this category, recognizing our efforts in creating a healthy school environment and implementing an effective Coordinated School Health Model. The Legacy Foundation Score Card Review Committee chose to award our schools $3,000 each, for a total of $6,000, to assist them in future school health efforts. The criteria for selection included the total score achieved across all areas of the Healthy Schools Score Card, the quality of the success stories submitted for each of the component areas, support letters submitted by a principal, teacher, parent and student, and results of interviews conducted with the schools selected as the top finalists. Award amounts range from $500 - $5,000, but our schools were granted $6,000!
I would like to thank Center Recreation Director Jonathan Mack and his large group of adult volunteers who coordinated a wonderful "Easter Extravaganza" for the community of Center on Saturday April 7th. The event was blessed with wonderful weather and I would estimate nearly 200 children had the opportunity to gather eggs, participate in relay races, partake in good food, and engage in a positive event. I am told many community businesses and organizations contributed to the event. t
Thanks to all who were involved!
Thanks to all who were involved!
Finally, I would like to thank the staff and community members who once again came together on Saturday March 31st to conduct an excellent Center Invitational Track Meet. It wasn’t so long ago when holding such an event was merely a dream. Having a great all surface track and wonderful people to direct the meet gives the community of Center a great opportunity to show the rest of the Valley what it has to offer, and once our new school construction project is completed Center Schools can get back to work teaming up with the Town of Center to continue making improvements to the facilities at the Center Community Park.
The Past Week
On Monday of the week before spring break Center High School Principal Kevin Jones paid up on a bet he had made with Center High School students a year ago just before administering the 2011 CSAP test. At that time Mr. Jones offered to allow CHS students to shave or dye his hair should they once again show growth at a level that would qualify the school for a Colorado Department of Education Centers of Excellence Award. This goal was achieved, so Mr. Jones polled the student body as to what they would like him to do with his hair. A decision was made to dye it royal blue, and this plan was executed by Center High School cosmetology students at an assembly just before 2012 TCAP testing began. Mr. Jones was a great sport throughout the process even though his scalp sort of remained blue for a couple of days. I believe he has actually offered to have his legs waxed next year if the Center High School student body achieves a similar result!
Late in the week before spring break I had the opportunity to attend a National Superintendent Summit in Orlando, Florida. This event included sixty school district leaders from all over the United States. As I sat in the summit it amazed me how the greatest leaders in school systems throughout the country kept talking about how schools and districts ought to be doing just the things we are doing in Center. We talked about the need to develop a guaranteed and viable curriculum aligned to Common Core Standards, providing instruction aligned to such a curriculum that engages all students in learning, seeking a comprehensive and scientific way to teach literacy, developing leaders who observe, support, and offer feedback aimed at instructional improvement, setting up governance structures that focus on continually improving student achievement, and integrating technology in the classroom in a way that's not just about the technology but rather about effective teachers making good use of technology. Those of you who are following the progress of Center Schools know we are doing exactly theses things to bring about grater learning opportunities for our students.
Big Things We Are Working On
Though we were on spring break this past week, I spent part of it planning for spring-time federal programs budget adjustments, writing a proposal to encourage CDE to invest dollars in a Valley-wide Lindamood-Bell project, and finalizing revisions to be submitted as part of our district’s Unified Improvement Plan.
Construction News
Our student construction project tours went great the week before spring break! We brought approximately 30 students on two tours and the kids were very excited to see the progress being made on their new school.
We are now in the middle of finalizing decisions on furniture colors. Our architects are working closely with our Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment provider to make these choices. We also made a final decision regarding our varsity gym scoreboard design. Other big decisions being made right now include finalization of our room numbering plan and making final decisions on the design of the new library circulation desk.
A major construction project that took place during the week of spring break was the abatement of some minor remnants of asbestos in Haskin Elementary School. This process is being done in advance of the eventual demolition of the building this coming June. This needs to be done because the landfill will not accept the demolished school unless all asbestos has been removed from it prior to delivery
We are now in the middle of finalizing decisions on furniture colors. Our architects are working closely with our Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment provider to make these choices. We also made a final decision regarding our varsity gym scoreboard design. Other big decisions being made right now include finalization of our room numbering plan and making final decisions on the design of the new library circulation desk.
A major construction project that took place during the week of spring break was the abatement of some minor remnants of asbestos in Haskin Elementary School. This process is being done in advance of the eventual demolition of the building this coming June. This needs to be done because the landfill will not accept the demolished school unless all asbestos has been removed from it prior to delivery
Our Core Beliefs
Last week I shared a situation where we needed to select a Building Leadership Team member at Skoglund Middle School. We were deciding between hypothetical staff members named Marilyn and Stacy.
As a reminder, Marilyn is an experienced teacher and has taught at Skoglund for 15 years. She told us she needs a leadership opportunity and because of her experience she deserves the payroll stipend that comes with the additional responsibility. Her student achievement scores have been declining of late and the quality of her instruction has been stagnant.
Meanwhile Stacy, a third-year probationary teacher who is working hard to implement our recent classroom instruction initiatives, applied as well. Her students showed strong academic growth last year and the quality of her instruction appears to be among the best in the school.
My question to you was which of these staff members do you think should serve on the Building Leadership Team?
My hope is you arrived at the same decision I did. Though Marilyn is more experienced and has been around longer, she may not be the best person to help lead the Skoglund staff to the next level of improvement. Stacy may only be a third year teacher, but she clearly has an understanding of our improvement strategies AND she is getting the results we are looking for. I think we need people like Stacy who are implementing our change initiatives and producing successful results to help guide the Skoglund staff to further improvement.
As a reminder, Marilyn is an experienced teacher and has taught at Skoglund for 15 years. She told us she needs a leadership opportunity and because of her experience she deserves the payroll stipend that comes with the additional responsibility. Her student achievement scores have been declining of late and the quality of her instruction has been stagnant.
Meanwhile Stacy, a third-year probationary teacher who is working hard to implement our recent classroom instruction initiatives, applied as well. Her students showed strong academic growth last year and the quality of her instruction appears to be among the best in the school.
My question to you was which of these staff members do you think should serve on the Building Leadership Team?
My hope is you arrived at the same decision I did. Though Marilyn is more experienced and has been around longer, she may not be the best person to help lead the Skoglund staff to the next level of improvement. Stacy may only be a third year teacher, but she clearly has an understanding of our improvement strategies AND she is getting the results we are looking for. I think we need people like Stacy who are implementing our change initiatives and producing successful results to help guide the Skoglund staff to further improvement.
The Week Ahead
This coming Monday evening I'll be taking members of the Center Town and Country Club on a tour of the new school building.
Tuesday will be filled with a San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting in the morning, a Valley Collaborative planning meeting in the afternoon, and then our monthly District Accountability and Board of Education meetings in the evening.
Wednesday's main focus will be on addressing varying aspects of our building project which will be tackled this summer, as well as conducting interviews to fill our Summer School Director position.
I have to go to Denver on Thursday to attend the monthly CEA, CASE, CASB Anchor Group meeting.
On Friday I will be back in center for an El Pomar grant on site review.
Tuesday will be filled with a San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting in the morning, a Valley Collaborative planning meeting in the afternoon, and then our monthly District Accountability and Board of Education meetings in the evening.
Wednesday's main focus will be on addressing varying aspects of our building project which will be tackled this summer, as well as conducting interviews to fill our Summer School Director position.
I have to go to Denver on Thursday to attend the monthly CEA, CASE, CASB Anchor Group meeting.
On Friday I will be back in center for an El Pomar grant on site review.
Extra Points
I had the pleasure of playing a bit of an April Fools Day joke on the community last week by posting a “Keeping Our Focus” that had some fun and outrageous stories in it. For those of you who feel a bit betrayed by me, I truly apologize. My goal was merely to have a little fun.
I have to say that when I wrote the April Fools addition in collaboration with my wife Becky, we enjoyed ourselves beyond belief while also thinking “some people may actually believe some of these stories because they are way too plausible.”
It is an absolute credit to our school community to think it is not an impossible stretch to believe that a Center Schools Teacher could be selected by NASA to fly in space or be hired away from us by Bill Gates and Microsoft, or for a Center Schools Athlete to set a North American record in a track event. We have many amazing people working on behalf of our kids in Center and the real things they are accomplishing can be witnessed each weak in the “great things going on” section of this publication.
We also appear to have a bit of a history of playing pranks in this community, as can be seen in this 1930's Center High School "Heart and Eagle" yearbook staff picture that got snuck into the final draft. Because of this I consider myself to be in good company.
Thanks for listening again and have another great week. No fooling!
George
I have to say that when I wrote the April Fools addition in collaboration with my wife Becky, we enjoyed ourselves beyond belief while also thinking “some people may actually believe some of these stories because they are way too plausible.”
It is an absolute credit to our school community to think it is not an impossible stretch to believe that a Center Schools Teacher could be selected by NASA to fly in space or be hired away from us by Bill Gates and Microsoft, or for a Center Schools Athlete to set a North American record in a track event. We have many amazing people working on behalf of our kids in Center and the real things they are accomplishing can be witnessed each weak in the “great things going on” section of this publication.
We also appear to have a bit of a history of playing pranks in this community, as can be seen in this 1930's Center High School "Heart and Eagle" yearbook staff picture that got snuck into the final draft. Because of this I consider myself to be in good company.
Thanks for listening again and have another great week. No fooling!
George